No offense, but I'm not sure you did, taking things in the context I wrote them and letting folks argue, as I posted about that. All I'm going to say. Leave folks alone to debate a topic amongst themselves unless they get disrespectful. If you've nothing to add, say nothing and leave thosefolks be to discuss the topic. Let the discussion go... Like you should have here. Share your opinion on the topic, but if you're not adding to the discussion, and no one is out of line let it be. Just sayin..

"If I could start my life all over again, I would be a professional football player, and you damn well better believe I would be a Pittsburgh Steeler." Jack Lambert, 1990 HoF Introduction.

Thanks Mike. You're doing exactly what you said for me to not do, except you wrote an entire diatribe off-topic. Just pointing out that you are defensive anytime anybody says anything about the Steelers, in all threads, for example, when I selected Tim Brown over Bettis in the HOF brackets. It was relevant to the topic. As for your post, you're right. I just made up the fact that I took an entire 30 seconds to read your post. {}. I'll stop, so I don't kill the thread. {}

what I find curious, and it may just be coincidence, is that this weekend will now be the 5th game out of 17 regular season games he will have missed against their biggest rival, the Ravens. That's 5 of the total 14 games he will have missed.

Now this rib thing sounds very serious, that just seems like a lot of games to miss against your biggest rival. Someone like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Troy Polamalu would play that game with one arm if they had to.

what I find curious, and it may just be coincidence, is that this weekend will now be the 5th game out of 17 regular season games he will have missed against their biggest rival, the Ravens. That's 5 of the total 14 games he will have missed.

Now this rib thing sounds very serious, that just seems like a lot of games to miss against your biggest rival. Someone like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Troy Polamalu would play that game with one arm if they had to.

It's probably coincidence, but an odd one.

Perhaps it's also just coincidence that Polamalu and Lewis will both also not be on the field this Sunday? And neither lost an arm, as far as I know.

I've always found it kind of ironic that so many spend so much time complaining when athletes say nothing, then complain when they say too much.

Ben falls in the latter category, no doubt. It doesn't mean he makes up injuries. It doesn't necessarily mean he's trying to come off as the hero (although I do think there's some validity to that thought). It also doesn't mean that he tries to avoid playing against anyone, including a rival. It simply means he sometimes can't shut up when he probably should.

Yes Ben is frequently hurt. But we really need to address whether or not these injuries are real? That seems rather insulting to me. Rather equal to those that continue to question Jay Cutler, and seems to be a product more of dislike toward the player than anything. Tomlinson went through the same thing.

Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher, Troy Polamalu, etc have had some injury issues, yet none have had the validity of those injuries questioned. That must be because they "leave everything on the field," and respond to their injury in the perfectly perfect manner, which would seem to implicate that others who have their injuries questioned don't "leave everything on the field" and give it their all. That just seems pretty ridiculous to me.

Oh, and who honestly cares if Ben likes or doesn't like Todd Haley? That comment on offensive differences got way too much run because people were looking for anything to add to the friction, and because talk shows like feeding stories to the vocal 2% extremists as opposed to the silent 98%.

For the record, I don't believe Ben has faked injuries, but I do believe he plays them up for the attention. This is exacerbated by the media: "Ben is one tough SOB for playing with that hangnail on his non-throwing hand." "Ben showing bravery by playing with a bruise on his eyebrow." "Ben, who bit his tongue Thursday, is showing true heart by being on the field." He's tough. We get it.

I've always found it kind of ironic that so many spend so much time complaining when athletes say nothing, then complain when they say too much.

Ben falls in the latter category, no doubt. It doesn't mean he makes up injuries. It doesn't necessarily mean he's trying to come off as the hero (although I do think there's some validity to that thought). It also doesn't mean that he tries to avoid playing against anyone, including a rival. It simply means he sometimes can't shut up when he probably should.

Yes Ben is frequently hurt. But we really need to address whether or not these injuries are real? That seems rather insulting to me. Rather equal to those that continue to question Jay Cutler, and seems to be a product more of dislike toward the player than anything. Tomlinson went through the same thing.

Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher, Troy Polamalu, etc have had some injury issues, yet none have had the validity of those injuries questioned. That must be because they "leave everything on the field," and respond to their injury in the perfectly perfect manner, which would seem to implicate that others who have their injuries questioned don't "leave everything on the field" and give it their all. That just seems pretty ridiculous to me.

Oh, and who honestly cares if Ben likes or doesn't like Todd Haley? That comment on offensive differences got way too much run because people were looking for anything to add to the friction, and because talk shows like feeding stories to the vocal 2% extremists as opposed to the silent 98%.

No one is complaining about anything. I don't care if Ben tells the world he has jock itch and played without Lotramin. I don't care if he's a douche or drama queen. All of this is documented and is mostly true. But that is not what this is about. It's about Ben, or any QB taking too much punishment, getting obscene amounts of injuries. When is it too much? When do coaches and the front offices intervene? When there are millions of dollars tied to a franchise QB, how much rope do you give him and when do you reel it in?

Let's use Ben as an example. Ben exaggerates injuries, possibly imagines a few and goes out on the field. The media swoons, the Steelers fans cheer and gush while Ben laps it up. His toughness (real or exaggerated) gets so much hype, so much in fact that you used Tomlin's quote about Ben after he got hurt vs Cleveland last season. You even made a thread about it. Its talked about in every Steelers game and you can bet it will be shoved down our collective throats this Sunday night.

Since you and Mike were apparently split from the same petri dish, and you both don't care what he says as long as he stats this and percentages that....How do you feel now that he my be out 6 weeks? From your own lips, or fingertips in this format, you don't have faith in the backups. You say Ben is the offense. The team wasn't exactly breaking records and running up scores, and now they don't have Ben. I don't see this season getting better, I see it getting worse.

Obviously, Ben can't Superman this injury. When do you as fans say enough of the tough guy hero crap? Remember when he was a detriment to the team in SF? When they got Tebow'd? When do you make the fan voice heard that you want to protect the QB by sitting him as needed? Drafting a successor and a FA backup that fits the system?

Here's a thought and it's not far fetched as it may seem. What if Ben is out for the season? His kid is born and he does the whole mortality thing and decides to retire.